Dimensional Descent

Leonel's gaze narrowed. He had a feeling that this was where the true challenges would begin. Everything up until this point was nothing more than a weeding out of sorts, a filter. It seemed that things would only get interesting now.

A faint sort of excitement bubbled up within Leonel's heart, a searing heat pulsing above his right hip. This sort of stage, it was the kind he really wanted to be on. He faintly hoped that… These people would not disappoint him.

…

Cornelius could see the shift in Leonel's demeanor, and right then, it felt like something that had been confusing him finally snapped into place.

Observing Leonel felt like one of the most confusing things he ever had to do. Sometimes the young man was hot, sometimes cold. Sometimes he was murderous and sometimes he was forgiving. Sometimes he was arrogant and at other times he was humble. Sometimes he met the day with a smile and at other times he met it with coldness…

As confusing as his personality was, his battle prowess was even more so. Cornelius couldn't even decide whether he was a talent or an average genius, something that was baffling considering the fact the young man had just single handedly defeated a Rapax soldier. But, that only emphasized just how hard it was to get a read on Leonel…

'Sometimes his true self slumbers… and sometimes it peeks an eye open, groggily observing the world around him as though to check if those before him were worthy…'

As for when Leonel would truly wake up? Cornelius had no way of knowing, or else maybe he wouldn't be so confused.

The main issue, though, was that this was exactly like a certain man. He met the day with a bright smile on his face, joking around and chasing skirts without a care. You would never be able to tell that there was a slumbering monster within him, ready to pounce and destroy everything at the slightest poke.

That slumbering beast, too, only partially awoke from time to time. But… That day that it had fully awakened, that day when it rose up and unfurled its body, roaring into the skies…

The Void Palace's very foundation had shaken.

…

"What the hell is this?"

The voice wasn't overly loud, but it was laced with an unconcealed fury. Its owner stared daggers toward Leonel as though with just this alone, he could see the latter sliced and diced into minced meat.

The young man looked like the picture of a roaring lion. He had a head of hair, side burns and beard that all came together to form the image of a vibrant mane. His two eyes were a piercing bright brown and his teeth lengthened to the point two prominent canines jetted out whenever he opened his mouth.

A sparkling white-gold halberd stretched across his back and his armor alternated in heavy white plates and dense brownish-golden fur. Despite the fact he was in his early 20's, no one would have hesitated to believe that he was already well into his 30's, not because he looked so old, but because his facial hair simply didn't seem fit for someone so young.

Those around this young man almost instantly smiled bitterly. They had known that these days of leisure wouldn't last for so long.

Over the last few days, they could just sit back and do nothing. This overly prideful young master of theirs always insisted on doing everything himself and he continuously plowed forward, blocking and destroying everything in their path.

Usually, this sort of personality would have gotten them into a ridiculous amount of trouble. But, with the current state of things and the set up of this particular trial, it was nothing but good. In the outside world, however, just these last few days alone their young master would have at least killed three prominent figures, ruined the future of at least one noble lady, and would have dove into at least one life or death situation that would have ended with at least three of them losing their lives, only to be replaced by a new wave of youthful retainers.

Then, they would be forced to spend the next coming days cleaning up the mess while their young master rested, only for them to do it all over again the next week. But, this time, the list of those who hated their young master would have increased by that exact number.

It could be said that this young man was even better at stirring up trouble than Leonel. His was Conon Lio, the leading youth of the Golden Sector's Lio family.

Much like Conon's attendants had expected such behavior, they also knew why their young master was reacting like this as well. The Golden Sector was unlike most due to its special structure. In conjunction with its complex history, no single family had been able to dominate it. However, unlike the Three Pillar Sector, the three families that locked heads in the Golden Sector were far higher on the totem pole. In fact, if that very same one to ten scale used to understand the Libra family was used, then these three families would actually faintly surpass them, sitting at solids eights and nines!

Due to this, despite his achievements, Conon hadn't been able to monopolize the Amethyst Token like a talent like him would have in practically any other year. Instead, he had been locked into a stalemate with the young heir of the Tarius family, Armand, and the young miss of the Pyius family, Simona. Unluckily, all three families had birthed outstanding talents in this generation.

As though that wasn't bad enough, Conon, Armand and Simona might have been the tip of the iceberg, but they had several cousins, brothers and sisters who could only be considered a step below. In fact, in a weaker generational pool, it would have been possible for one or two of them to have gained an Amethyst Token. And, one of these individuals was Conon's elder brother who stoically stood to his side right this moment, Gunter Lio.

And yet, now all of these geniuses were seeing a right they were snubbed from due to unfortunate luck, sitting in the palm of a nameless young man they had never seen or heard of before.

No… they had heard of him, just a few days ago. But, what they had heard only fueled their rage all the more.